Wanted! Ideas for Fast and Easy Quilts

I’ve been slowly putting my home together, but my family room is coming along too slowly for my tastes and I want to speed things up. I love my big white comfy couch and my flat screen TV (which is just crying for two art quilts to flank it). But the room is void of color and texture, and that needs to change ASAP!

So it just so happens that I love this console table I found online at Ballard Designs. It’s been sitting in my shopping cart for weeks, but I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

I can just imagine placing it right behind my white sofa, and storing a lot of patchwork quilts in it, folded one on top of the other, stacked so you see a lot of color, pattern, and texture right when you look into the room. Problem is, I don’t have any patchwork quilts, except for the one my great grandmother made, and that’s my bed quilt. Louie is especially partial to it…

Carol Morrissey has developed some rockin’ pieced patterns (separate from her fused applique designs.) Unfortunately, she hasn’t finished her website overhaul – so there’s not much to see there, but her pal Sandy Brawner has most of her patterns at Quilt Country. http://tinyurl.com/86uvlfn

I made my first jellyroll quilt about a year ago. I appliqued a scattering of die-cut pieces, as well as cut outlines from the leftover cloth across the surface. It turned out great!
Also, I made a bunch of crazy log cabin blocks with a set of Anna Maria Horner 12×12 die cut squares as the central element in each….easy and bright.

You should look at “Quilting Modern” for some ideas. Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen did a really good job and will give you a good jumping off point for something fresh. I’m really liking this book.

I’m having a vision; think of different sizes of large scale rectangles and squares, using various bright solids or even gradations, and each trimmed with a very thin contrasting complimentary border. (Actually, the border size could be varied as well, but I think really thin might be cool, just to add some pop) Put all of these on your design wall, and get the layout you like, then just fill the background with solids, to create another layer behind. For example, various pale solid grays, warm and cool, or various light creams to pull it all together. You could whip something out pretty quick if the scale is big enough.

Hi Pokey! The quilt I made for my friends wedding in October sounds like a design/pattern that would work great for this. If you want to take a look, there are photos on my blog http://shadybrooks.wordpress.com under the post “Broken Roads Wedding Quilt” (it is on the bottom of the list on the righthand side, and there are also photos of it on my Flickr Feed on the left of the page). Take a look and see if that idea would work on a smaller scale for one of your quilts.
Have a great day!
Shady

Go to You Tube.com and type in” Amazing Jelly Roll Quilt Pattern by 3 Dudes.” The quickest easiest pattern ever and you can get so many colour variations and block sizes. Have a go . It is a winner, I promise. Really miss seeing your pic and reading your editorial in Quilting Arts and I guess you will be missed at Create this year. Soooooo many changes, sigh……
.
Serafina

This isn’t about quilts, but I had to checkout the catalog you mentioned. They have pendant light adaptors! I never thought of that, you buy these and stick them in your recessed lights and voila! New lights!
Thanks Pokey for the URL.

I needed something fast so I cut a strip of all my fave Kaffe Fasset and Jane Sassamans, added some blue squares, and Jelly roll raced it! So fast and fun! Pic on my blog.Can’t wait to see what you come up with, Pokey!